Talks to end a strike by bin workers in Birmingham have ended without a deal. The Unite union said negotiations would resume next week, although it offered to continue talking over Easter.

The situation in Birmingham during the bin strike “cannot continue”, the city council’s leader has said as he urged the Unite union to help bring the industrial action to an end ahead of a fresh round of talks on Wednesday.

O n Birmingham’s poorer streets, veiled mothers push their prams through scattered litter. The remarkably sunny spring would normally be a thrill for their children. Less so this time. The abundant rubbish,